Pals around the Pond

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum offers lots of hands on learning for all ages.

On Wednesdays you can enjoy a time geared toward 3-6 year olds meeting Pals around their Pond or Pals on the Prairie.

Description:	Ages 3-6 Leave the classroom behind and discover the exceptional elements that make the North Pond a unique treasure in the city. To learn more about our early childhood classes, click here.
Registration Info:	Class topics vary. Cost: $10/member or $12/non-member. To register, fill out a registration form or email familyprograms@naturemuseum.org.

All ages are welcome to attend. If you have kids that might not fit the target audience, feel free to call about attending with them as well.

They have other events that are free with admission, like pond tours, meeting with a Ranger, and nature walks.
Enjoy these last few weeks of summer!

Six Flags hosts the 15th annual Home School Day event on August 27. Enjoy a fun filled day at the park with your family and friends. A special all-you-can-eat Home School Day picnic is also available in our private picnic grove. Contact SFGAMspecialevents@sixflags.com for additional information.

Home School Day Flyer

HOME SCHOOL DAY PICNIC—ONLY $10.25

All-you-can-eat picnic buffet in our private picnic grove includes fried
chicken, hot dogs, meatless mostaccioli, potato salad, pasta salad,
potato chips, pickles, rolls and unlimited soft drinks. You may enter the
picnic grove any time from 11:30a.m.-1:00p.m.

EXCLUSIVE RIDE TIME

Purchase a Home School Day ticket and receive one hour of exclusive ride time on Superman Ultimate Flight,
Rue le Dodge and Condor. This exclusive ride time is available before the park opens from 9:00 a.m.-10:00a.m.
and is only available to people who have purchased Home School Day tickets.

Answers in Genesis

Thank you to Melissa for sending this in. A free video download from Answers in Genesis:

Already Gone – Video Download

Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it

by Ken Ham

Format: MP4

Ages: 15 & up

Publisher: Answers in Genesis–US

Download file size: 275 MB
High-speed connection highly recommended

The trends are frightening, but this DVD shows how to win back our families, our churches, and our world!

The next generation is already calling it quits on traditional church. Next Sunday, look around, two thirds of the young people in your church are already disengaged from the message they are hearing. And it’s not just happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening in the most solid “Bible-believing” churches.

In this important DVD, Ken Ham discusses the profound cultural changes taking place in our Western world, as God’s Word is rejected and man’s fallible ideas are welcomed. Ken relates some of the shocking statistics presented in the book Already Gone that reveal the reasons why young people are leaving church and abandoning the faith of their parents.

The church is failing to give children real answers to their questions. We are losing our kids long before college. But this is far from a hopeless situation. Ken explains how we can fight back for our children, and what we can do to ground our children in the faith and prepare them for the challenges of the secular world.

Free Educator Screening



You and one (1) guest are invited to a Free Educator Screening of Space Station 3D and Hubble 3D. Additional guests will be charged $5.50 for each movie, or $10.00 for both. Join us and meet our Science Fair Vendors! We will raffle prizes and have a Q&A after Hubble 3D! Date: Tuesday August 24, 2010 Time: 4:30pm – Space Station 3D 5:30pm – Hubble 3D (please arrive a half hour prior to showtime to check-in and register) Q&A to follow Hubble 3D. Place: Randall 15 IMAX – 550 N. Randall Rd. Batavia, IL 60510 Get Map RSVP: Email or Call 630-659-6762. RSVP by noon on Monday August 23. IMPORTANT – Please leave us your first and last name, school name, theater, and number of people attending. If registering via email, you will receive an email confirmation. If registering via phone, you will not receive a phone call to confirm your space.
	SPACE STATION 3D: SPACE STATION 3D is the story of this unique partnership of 16 nations building a laboratory in outer space — a permanent facility for the study of the effects of long-duration exposure to zero gravity and the necessary first step towards the global co-operative effort needed if man is to someday set foot on Mars. It is a story of challenges, setbacks and triumphs…and ultimately, the shared international victory of men and women whose dreams exceed the limits of life on this Earth. Website Educator Guide
	HUBBLE 3D: Experience the gripping story — full of hope, crushing disappointment, dazzling ingenuity, bravery, and triumph – in HUBBLE 3D, the seventh awe-inspiring film from the award-winning IMAX Space Team. HUBBLE 3D recounts the amazing journey of the most important scientific instrument since Galileo’s original telescope and the greatest success in space since the Moon Landing — the Hubble Space Telescope. Accompany the space walking astronauts as they attempt some of the most difficult tasks ever undertaken in NASA’s history, and will experience up close the awesome power of the launches, the heartbreaking setbacks, and the dramatic rescues of this most powerful story. Website Educator Guide
Teachers! Book your Group Today! Call Jeannette at 630-659-6762 or email

Not back to school blog hop

A little fun for this “not back-to-school” time of year. I know many of you are looking for some inspiration, some fire to start off the year properly, some kind of plan to get you enthused for the year.

Emotions right now often run the gamut. Excitement, intimidation, trepidation, fear, doubt, joy. Maybe you feel excited, or maybe you wish you had more enthusiasm for the year to come.

To help us all get in the mood to not head back to school (you know, since we homeschool and aren’t going to school . . .) you can get a peak into the homes and daily organizers of some other homeschool moms over the next four weeks.

The first edition comes out this week and gives people an opportunity to share their curriculum plans for the upcoming year. If you click the icon above it will take you to the list of other blogs and curriculum sharing which start on Monday August 2. If last year is any indication, hundreds of families will participate over the next month, and they will show you many different styles, ideas, family sizes, student ages, and approaches to homeschooling.

Month: August 2010